US ‘adapt, shrink or die’ terms for $2bn aid pot will mean UN bowing down to Washington, say experts

<p>Afghanistan and Yemen excluded from list of 17 priority countries chosen by Trump administration to receive aid laden with demands</p><p>The $2bn (£1.5bn) of aid the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/29/us-pledge-un-model-humanitarian-assistance">US pledged this week</a> may have been hailed as <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/ocha-managed-humanitarian-funds-receive-landmark-us2-billion-contribution-united-states">“bold and ambitious”</a> by the UN but could be the “nail in the coffin” in changing to a shrunken, less flexible aid system dominated by Washington’s political priorities, aid experts fear.</p><p>After a year of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/21/sweden-and-germany-slash-aid-budgets-to-focus-on-ukraine-and-defence-spending">deep cuts in aid budgets</a> by the US and European countries, the announcement of new money for the humanitarian system is a source of some relief, but experts are deeply concerned about demands that the US has imposed on how the money should be managed and where it can go.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/01/us-aid-cuts-conditions-un-humanitarian-pledge-ocha">Continue reading...</a>